Method and apparatus for fluid control



Feb. Z9, 19.44. r C, POULTER 2,342,890

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FLUID CONTROL Filed Feb. 17, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 29, 1944. I T` C, POULTER I 2,342,890

vMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FLUID CONTROLA Filed Feb. 17, 1941 4 ShGG'S-Sheet 2 /w M @www M75/oruga Feb. 29, 1944. T c, PQULTER 2,342,890

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FLUID CONTROL y Filed Feb. 17, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Feb. 29, `1944. T C, PQULTER 2,342,890

= METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FLUID CONTROL n #iowa/10's of Pressure z'fL house/1.55 of 1154-56 7s 91011/21314/5/6/7/1920 @Aw M Patented Feb.` 29, 1944 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FLUID CONTROL Thomas C. Poulter, La Grange, Ill.

Application February 17, 1941, Serial No. 379,384

(c1. 13s-4s) 9 Claims.

The present invention relates to a novel method and apparatus for iluid control, control devices embodying the invention being adapted for use primarily either as fluid pressure' reducers or las fluid delivery rate adjusters.

There are many potential elds of for the present invention. In fact, they are so many and so divergent that a comprehensive list is out of the question for present purposes. Simply by -way of example, and in order to make clear some of the problems involved, it may be noted that in steam operated electric generating plants today it is common to provide a single feed water pump for supplying water to several boilers. In such installations the water is fed through distributing valves which maintain the proper water levels in the respective boilers. As the feed water pump has a constant delivery ratev it is desirable to use a device of the type herein contemplated to return the excess water, in the event of light boiler demand, to an atmospheric-pressure water reservoir. This may entail dropping `the water pressure through the device by, say, 1,500 pounds per square inch and for large volumes of water it is obvious that the service is of a very heavy duty character. More particularly, if it is necessary to make such a pressure reduction for, say, 100,000 pounds oi.' water per h'our then approximately 520 horsepower must be absorbed by the pressure reducer. y

Another instance in which a device of the typ herein disclosed may be used is as a throttling device in the supply line of a large capacity steam driven prime mover in order to control the delivery of steam. Similarly, my method and apparatus may be used to reduce the steam pressure in a steam supply line to a low pressure prime mover which is fed from a high pressure boiler that normally .feeds steam to a highy pressure prime mover, the latter ordinarily being arranged to exhaust to the first mentioned low pressure prime mover. In other words, if the high pressure prime mover of such as system has to be cut out of service then the steam will have to be fed directly from the high pressure boiler to the low pressure prime mover and in such case a pressure reducer of the type herein disclosed may be used in effecting the necessary reduction of pressure to the low pressure prime mover.

Heretofore, the pressure reducing or throt14 tling valves for the type of service indicated above, have had quite a short, useful life. They have been of several types, one of the best known being the so-called needle valve type.. All of them, however, have had the characteristic that applicationv the water, steam or other fluid is forced through them at extremely high velocity. As a conselquenc'e, seriously-damaging cavitation erosion adjacent particles of fluid pass one another and move in opposite directions or by the centrifugal force in a small, rapidly swirling eddy current in v the fluid, These cavities soonv collapse and as they do so the local fluid pressure, in the immediate vicinity of the collapsed cavity, reaches an exceedingly high value of the order of many thousands of pounds per vsquare inch. Whenever there is such a sudden burst of pressure in fluid contacting, or in close proximity to, a-metal surface, the uid is forced into the metal in a compressed condition and then' as the pressure is subsequently released the expanding fluid breaks out of the metal carrying with it tiny fragments of the metal. Even if a cavity collapses out in the body of the fluid away from a metal wall a compression wave is set up which travels through the uid at about 5,000 feetper second and when it strikes the metal surface, the latter being stationary and unable to follow the fiuids motion, cavitation again occurs and fluid is driven in compressed form into the metal, thereafter tearing away fragments as it subsequently escapes. Fluid compression of the type just, described occurs even in what are -commonly known as uncompressible fluidsvsuch as lwater. As the action described continues, the metal valve parts are eaten away due to the cavitation erosion and the valve is finally completely disabled.

One general aim of the present invention is to A nated as being of a low velocity" type since they make possible large pressure reductions in evenl heavy duty installations without ever permitting the uid velocity to exceed a few hundred feet per second, an operational characteristic that was heretofore quite impossible with the pressure reduction or throttling devices available.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fluid control device of the class indicated which will not only have 4a long useful life for even heavy duty service but which is also especially quiet in operation. Still another object is to provide a low velocity type fluid control device embodying a novel arrangement for adjusting the pressure drop or change in delivery rate which it effects.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds. taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a fluid control device embodying the invention, and adapted to carry out the herein disclosed method, the associated control apparatus for the device being shown generally diagrammatically.

Fig, 2 is a perspective view of the device of Fig. l with a portion of the casing broken away to expose the interiorly located parts.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a modifled form of pressure reducer embodying the invention.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the reducer-shown in Fig. 3 and with a portion of the casing broken away to expose the interiorly located parts.

Fig. 5 is a. longitudinal sectional view of a second modified form of pressure reducer embodying the invention.

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view of the reducer of Fig. 5.

Fig. 'l is a set of characteristic curves for the device of Fig. 1. y

Fig. 8 is a comparison chart contrasting the fluid velocity encountered in the device of Fig. 1 as compared to that in an ordinary needle valve.

Fig. 9 is a characteristic chart indicating the changes in fluid pressure resulting from variations in width of the fluid path through the valve at the point of maximum velocity.

While the invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions and application, I have shown in the drawings and will herein describe in detail certain' preferred embodiments and` applications, but it is to be understood that I do not thereby intend to limit the invention to the specific forms and methods disclosed, but intend to cover all modifications, alternative constructions and methods falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Pressure reduction or throttling of a stream of fluid entails, from the very nature of the operation, a dissipation of a portion of the potential energy or pressure head of the fluid. In general, I contemplate effecting this dissipation by spreading a confined stream of fluid in a thin sheet, while still retaining it conilned, whereby greatly to increase the skin friction on the fluid as compared to its flow through a pipe, and thereafter restoring the uid to a stream of compact cross sectional form. The skin friction onthe thinly spread duid converts the desired portion of the iluids pressure head into heat which is in turn dissipated, being carried away by warming of the stream of fluid itself in my presently disclosed apparatus.

The skin friction mentioned is a function of not only the area of the confining structure contacted by the fluid but also of the fluid velocity. In a needle valve the area. in question. is fairly small, but the velocity is extremely high. In contrast. I utilize a much larger area by spreading the fluid in a thin sheet. but limit the velocity to a low value. There is much more involved. for successful operation, however, than simply maintaining a low velocity for the fluid. I have discovered that, in order successfully to substantially eliminate cavitation erosion it is requisite that the following five conditions be adhered to in operating on the fluid in reducing lts pressure in the general manner noted above, viz:

(l) The maximum velocity of the fluid must not be permitted to exceed a few hundred feet per second.

(2) The velocity changes effected in the fluid should be such as correspondingly to change the kinetic energy of the fluid at a substantially uniform rate or, in other words must be equal substantially to a constant.

(3) The velocity of the fluid at the point where the fluid pressure has been reduced to the desired final or minimum value for the downstream side of the device should be substantially equal to the velocity of the fluid at such downstream side of the device.

(4) There must be no sudden decrease in the velocity of the iluid and, in fact, the rate of decrease in velocity must never exceed a value such that the change in velocity head exceeds the pressure head.

(5) There must be no sudden change in direction of the fluid and, in particular, any curvature of the fluid path must be of sufficiently great radius that the resultant centrifugal force acting on the fluid at any point does not exceed the fluid pressure at such point.

I have determined that when the five critical conditions prescribed above are imposed that the characteristics of the control device can be fairly accurately expressed by the comparatively simple equation: s

=KWL3 V1.1 ds

where P is the pressure, s is the distance along the path of flow of the fluid from the entrance of the control device to the point in question, W is the width of the conilned clearance in the device at such point and through which the fluid ilows, V is the velocity of the fluid at the point in question, and K is a constant for the particular fluid at a given temperature, being substantially 0.0000355 for water at C. It will thus be seen that the expression just set forth above makes it possible to determine the width W of the clearance spacing for the `fluid, in a skin resistance type of fluid control device such as herein contemplated, at all points along the path of travel ofthe fluid, which is requisite to obtain a desired over-all pressure drop with a preselected distribution of fluid velocity throughout the device.y To put it another way, having postulated the amount of fluid to be handled, the entrance velocity of the stream, the over-all pressure drop desired and the distribution of iluid velocities desired in the course of the pressure reducing operation. the foregoing equation can be readily used to ascertain the requisite width of the clearance in the reducer at all points in it, thereby accurately determining its requisite aseasso dimensions for operation without cavitation erosion. The various forms of iiuidjcontrol devices described below are all especially adapted to oper-v ate in accordance with the requirements outlined The iirst exemplary fluid` control device herein shown (Figs. 1 and'2) hasbeen illustrated as interposedy `in al pipe l I .to eiiect a reduction yin pressure of a stream of fluid flowing through the pipe in the direction of the arrow A, though with-` out substantially reducing the delivery rate of the above.

' accord at all points with the key formula set out Theprocess ofsodimensioning thisi clearance space is further explained below. In

the present` instance ,the casing Il is double walled so that a chamber Il is formed between its inner and outer walls for a Purpose which will appear below.'

iluid. In brief, the construction is such that a stream ot liquid entering through they inlet Ilv is' spread out laterally in a thin sheet over a core l2 v disposed within a complementally shaped Vcasing Il, and the liquid is then recombinedfin an exit stream at the outlet II. 'I'lie frictional resistance to ilowof the liquid is greatly increased Vas it passes in a thin sheet overthe core, as compared to that in the pipe il, because of the greater length o! the'peripheral boundaryv of the cross sectional area of the space through which thev liquid ilows, and a large part ofthe'potential energy or pressure head of the liquid-is thus dissipated in heat. There is. in fact, solargeie, surface area involved that the reduction-'incross To vsupport the core structure I2 in .proper no.-4 sition within thecasing 14,' a plurality of bosses 2! are provided von the lperimeter of -the core v( lilg. 2l'. These bosses are of streamlined shape so as to avoid setting up hny turbulence in the liquid which ilows past them.

Particularly to be noted. in connection Lwith the structure described above.v is the streamlined form of the clearance space between the core l2 and vcasing il through which the liquid ilows in the-de vice. In other words, :this clearance space 'l'.

path for thev liquid is entirely free oi' any angular or sharp urns or bends or any other' contours which would set up turbulence in the liquid. Ac-

f cordingLv, there'are no eddies or swirls which lould cause localized high' velocity peaks in the quid. v

Turning now tothe matter ofthe critical di- -'mensioning of the clearance space off-the device sectional area of thefluid path through the de-k vice, as compared to thatin the pipe lll, can bev a minimum and thereby produce the desired pressure drop without. the Anecessity vof building up excessive velocities."

In the instant construction the 'core i2 comprises a cast metal body I8 which is of disk shape andhas a deeply rounded peripheral edge. In

conformity with the fifth critical condition sety can be bulged or sprunglaterally from the core f body in the manner of diaphragms, for a lllllose which will appear hereinafter.'H Protrusions il and 20 are provided on the respectiveoppoite parent from these vcurves the pressure drop is all shown in Figs. -1 and2, and through which the iluidpasses, reference may be made tothe exeml plary sets of characteristic curves in 1718.7 in the `course of the'following explanation.:v As is I P- accomplishedin the first half of the device or', in

. other words, prior to the time the iluid reaches end walls of the sheath lt'and project. respectively, into the inlet and outlet Il and. it.. The protrusions III, 20 are smoothly tapered (see Fig. -l). from the end-surfaces ofthe sheath Il,

from which they rise, to points which are coaxial v with other and with the longitudinal axis `r.-z.for the device. The iniet Henri outlet is coaxial with thc axis Ali-L. From thel ioreaoingit win be seen thatthe core structure lz isisymmetrical aboutl the longitudinal axis L-L or theyde'viee nndthet its exterior surface is a @of revolutio ,-'of a-smooth'and unintereoninlenientai in shape t' u1e.1stter.`A 1t may, for

insr in .l plane passing transversely through ,they center of the device, these .halves 'being rigidly securedtogether'as indicated.v Thejinterior surfaceof thecasing I l closelyfollowstour of theexterior of-'the core i2 and is,in' general, spaced therefrom so as to form.

nular clearance space 'between -the casing `'and core, through which the liquid hows-and which is dimensioned so that 'this clearance Wrwill .the point ofv largest peripheral diameter on the vcore I2. The following or second half of the device serves simply to recombine the fluid in stream form, without turbulence. It is desirable that the pressure reduction be effected in the ilrst half of the device because, as the pressure reduction progresses, the iluld velocity nrst increases and vsubsequently decreases so that the velocityvis low Vwhen the pressure reduction is nearly complete. On the other hand, eectual pressure reduction at extremely low velocities requires a large surface or skin friction area for the iluid. Since such area is a maximum at the midway point oi the device, I construct it so that the pressure reductionwill be completed in the iirst halt of the device and the. large area at the midway point o! thev device will thus be washed by iluid traveling at the low velocity incident to substantial completion of the pressure reduction operation. Y

In dimensioning the-clearanceinv the device y for aparticular service we must il'rst of all postulate the pressure reduction to be eiected, the i amount of iluid to be handled, .andthe delivery velocity of the iluid tothe device.. In the -case of water the latter velocity will be about`l0 feet per second, a normal value ordinarily used and which is low enough to avoid aiiiieuityl with the l customary pipe ilttingsencountei'edv in a-water, j.

system. Knowing the quantity .of iluidto be delivered .(water assumed in 'thisexamplel and the entrance and exit velocity (these terminalv velocities arewdesirably Lequal)' i we' can readily calculate the cross'sectlonalarea u ofl thevde# j vice at its inlet and outlet. 'i.'e., the valueA of vcurve `a' at its .two extremities in Fig. '1. Before vcompletingfthe area curve a we must lay out vthe velocity curve V. As to the latter we have previously postulated the'inlet and outletvelocities and have also determined thatjthe pressurel reduction should be complete at the midwaypoint-of the device. Hence, it follows from primary condition 3 above that the velocity must also be equal to the exit value at the midway point. This means that the peak velocity must be between the inletand midway point of the device, and by primary condition 1 it must be of the order of only a few hundred feet per second. -In the example shown in Fig. 7 the peak velocity has been shown as substantially 256 feet per',second. Primary condition 2 above determines the slope of the velocity curve to its peak value. Thus, with these data at hand we may lay out the velocity curve as shown.

Having determined the fluid velocity at all points through the device as above it now requires but a simple calculation to complete the layout of the area curve a, since the area and l velocity determine the quantity or rate of fluid i'iow. which is constant throughout Next, the curve for W, the highly critical width of the clearance space for fluid flow through the device, is at least tentatively laid out. This can be done by assuming a tentative set of dimensions for the core I2, the cross sectional area a for the clearance space having been previously calculated as above. Knowing the radius of the core surface at any point and the cross sectional area of the clearance at such point on its surface it'is, of course, but simple arithmetic to determine the requisite width or spacing W to the opposed inner face of the casing il.

Havinglaid out three of the four curves in Fig. 7 as above, we proceed to calculate the curve P for the pressure. We have, of course, postulated the initial and tlnal values and have further determined that the pressure drop should be complete at the midway point in the value. 'I'he intermediate points are determined by the key equation The integrated value of the incremental pressure drops is determined and we see if it totals up to the required over-all pressure dro lf not, then suitable adjustment is made the dimensions of the core I2, to effect a correspondingrequiredchangeinW. Careisalsotakento see that primary conditions 4 and 5 are adhered to in the final set of characteristics. 'I'hough in explanation the calculations seem somewhat involved they are in actuality fairly simple, once the' basic critical conditions are set forth as above. v

With a device constructed as set forth above great volumes of fluid can be handled to effect extreme reductions in pressure without damage to the device over a long period oi' time. Infact, cavitation erosion is substantially completely eliminated. One should not be misled, because of the"scale for the velocity curve V in Fig. 7, as to the value of -peak velocity encountered. That it is very low indeed, compared with the fluid velocity in an ordinary needle valve, will be seen upon reference to Fig. 8, where. the fluid velocities in my device and in a needle valve are directly compared. In the latter the fluid velocity is equal in magnitude to that of .a high powered rifle bullet From this will be apparent the strik ingly `different operational characteristics of my device as compared to those of devices heretofore available.

Provision is made in the instant device for controllably varying'the width of the clearance space in the device through which the liquid flows, and, hence, for controlling the rate of duid assasoo delivery or the magnitude of pressure reduction. 'I'hus as the clearance is reduced the delivery rate is also reduced, the pressure drop sharply increased. and the fluid velocity is increased in that section of the device in which the cross sectional area of the clearance is decreased. That the device is extraordinarily critical to changes in the clearance width W at the point of maximum duid velocity in the device Vwill be clear from an inspection of Fig. 9. As there shown a change of but a few millimeters in W varies the pressure by a matter of several thousand pounds per square inch.

To vary the clearance for the purpose noted provision is made for introducing pressure fluid totheinnerfacesoftheendwalls ofthecore sheath il so that they can be bulged outwardly, and also for introducing pressure fluid to the chamber 2| so that the inner walls of thecasing "scan be bulged inwardly. In the present instancethe body II iscored outtoform two passages I'I and il* which terminate at the centers of the inner faces of respective ones of the sheath end walls. Pressure uid is supplied from some sui ble' source to the e i1. inthe present ins ce through a conduit 23 leading from the upstream side of the reducer under the control of a valve 2l.' To relieve the pressure in the passage II, and thus permit the forward sheath end wall to spring back toward the core body, a relief valve 25 is provided. Similarly, pressure fluid is supplied to the e Il through a conduit 22* under the control of a valve 24* and is relieved by a valve 25. Fluid supplied to the conduit II serves .to bulge the rear sheath wall outwardly.

Pressure fluid is also supplied to the casing chamber 2| from the conduit 23 through a branch conduit 2l. under the control of a valve 21. A relief valve 2l serves to bleed pressure duid from the chamber 2| when desired. Fluid supplied to the chamber 2l serves to bulge the inner casing wall inward to diminish the effective clearance space through the device.

If it is desired to throttle further the flow of liquid through the pressure reducer the relief valves 25 and 28 are closed and the controlvalves 2l, 24* and 21 opened sufiiciently to introduce enough pressure fluid from the upstream side of the reducer to bulge the sheath and casing walls toward each other a desired amount. In this way the clearance space., through which the liquid flows, can be accurately controlled. To again increase this clearance space it is, of course, necessary only to close the valves 24, 24l and 21 and to open the relief valves 25, 25* and 28 whereupon the pressure in the line III and the resiliency of the theretofore bulged walls causes them to spring back toward their initial unstressed positions. If desired, the valves may be manipulated to bulge out only one or the other of the forward and rear sheath walls or only the casing walls.

In the operation of the fluid control device described above, the liquid, whose pressure or delivery rate is to be controlled, enters the device through the inlet, owing in the direction of the arrow A. As the stream of entering liquid meets the entrance-side protrusion I! it is spread laterally in a thinning sheet over the forward face of the core structure I2. This thin sheet of uid flows on around the surface of the core and as it emerges from the casing I4, a-t

the outlet I6, it recombines in an exit stre Notablehere is the fact, however, that the oi' the protrusion 20 gradually deects the field laterally into the exit pipe so that there is no impingement of oppositely traveling streams on each other, and hence no turbulence set up at this point sulcient to produce cavitation.

Because of the greatly increased friction on the fluid stream within the device, a large part of the flulds pressure head .is .dissipated in heat as it passes through the device. This heat increases the temperature ofthe fluid and is thus carried away by it. The efficiency oi' this conversion of potential to thermal energy is very high so that in cases where an increase in temf. perature is desired, the energy loss resulting from the use of the reducer is very small.

A modied form of fluid control device, em; bodying the invention, has been shown in Figs.

3 and 4. This device diiers from that shown in Figs. l and 2, primarily in that it has an inner core structure of generally spherical shape rather than disk shape and in that no provision is made for adjustment of the pressure drop effected. In brief, it comprises a core I2* of generally spherical form with smoothly tapered protrusions I9'L and 20 projecting from its opposing sides. The core I2* is enclosed by a complementally shaped casing Il* interposed in a pipe III,A through which the liquid ows in the direction of the arrow A.

The core I 2I is mounted within the casing I4n by peripheral bosses 22* of streamlined form. The exterior surface of theA core is very smooth, being symmetrical about the longitudinal axis of the device, and constituting a surface of revolution of a smooth uninterrupted curve about this axis.

The casing I4* has alined inlet and outlet connections II and I5* on its opposite sides and into which the protrusions I9'i and 20', respectively, project. The interior of the casing I4a is shaped so that the cross sectional area of the clearance space'between it and the exterior of the core I 2* is proportioned to give the desired sequence or distribution of fluid velocities and limited maximum value of the same as heretofore described in connection with the device of Figs. 1 and 2. In other words, the cross secf tional area diminishes on the entering side of the device until it is such that the fluid velocity reaches a maximum of a few hundred feet per second. It will thus. be seen, as in the case of the device of Figs. 1 and 2, a low velocity type :pressure reducer has been provided in which the liquid flows smoothly and without turbulence so that cavitation erosion is virtually eliminated.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have shown still a third type of fluid control device, embodying my invention. In this case the interior core structure V.is generally cylindrical, rather than disk shaped or spherical as in the case of the device of Figs.

l and 3, respectively. Furthermore, the interior core structure is such as to provide a plurality of segregated yconcentric ow passages rather than a single one.v Thus, the device of Figs. 5 and 6 comprises an inner core I 2b of generally cylindrical shape with alined lprotrusionsy I 9b, 2lib at its opposite ends which taper smoothly into vthe contour of the core body. 'I'his core I2b is enclosed within separator shells 30 and 3| which are, in turn, enclosed within a complementally shaped outer casing I 4b, the latter being interposed in a pipe IIIb, throughwhich the liquid, whose pressure is to be reduced, flows in the direction of the arrow A.

As in the case of the devices described above,

that of Figs. 5 and 6 has a core oi' smooth form which is symmetrical about the longitudinal axis of the assembly and whose exterior surface is a surface of revolution, of an uninterrupted curve, vabout such longitudinal axis.

The separators 30 and 3| are of tubular shell and thereby prevent turbulence. The same pro- Y portioning prevents turbulence at the outlets. The separators as well as the casing I4b are split transversely at their centers, for ease of assembly. Bosses 22b on the coreland separators'retain the nested parts in predetermined spaced relation.

It will thus be seen that three concentric flow passages for fluid are provided through the device. The total cross sectional area of these passages is, at any point along the same, such as toproduce the desired velocity distribution heretofore described and changes in velocity likely to produce cavitation are minimized. Because of the smooth contour of the parts, however, turbulence is controlled and changes in directionv likely to produce cavitation are eliminated. The multi-passage arrangement of this device affords a large capacity and, of course, an even larger -number of passages may be employed if desired.

It will be understood, of course, that the modified devices of both Figs. 3 and 5 are dimensioned to meet the critical conditions discussed with reference to the device of Fig. 1, the necessary clearance size being determined in the same general manner.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have produced a novel fluid control device characterized particularly by the minimization in the over-all change of fluid velocity, velocity gradient, rate of change of direction of flow and negative velocity gradient, which its operation entails. By virtue of these and the other characteristics noted, cavitation erosion of the parts is so far minimized as to give a rugged and very fluid but at a sufllciently slow rate that the corl responding diminution in velocity head never exf ceeds the pressure head, continuing such diminution of confinement until the velocity is restored to its initial value at a point coincident with the attainment of the maximum drop in fluid pressure resulting from the operations set forth, and` throughout the operations set forth retaining the path of fluid flow sufficiently rectilinear that the centrifugal force acting on the fluid at any point due to any change in its direction of flow never exceeds the fluid pressure at such point.

2. The method of reducing the'pressure head of a conned flowing stream of fluid, which comprises, spreading the fluid out in a thin confined sheet and recombining it in the form of a solid stream of substantially round cross section, in the course of such spreading of the fluid progressively increasing its confinement to increase its velocity at a rate such as correspondingly to increase the kinetic energy of the fluid at a substantially uniform rate, and in the course of such recombining diminishing the confinement of the fluid slowly enough that the resultant change in velocity head never exceeds the pressure head at a corresponding point in the fluid.

3. The method of reducing the pressure of a confined stream of fluid, which comprises, spreading the stream into a thin sheet" between confining walls and restoring it into a solid stream of substantially round cross section, to dissipate the potential energy of the streams pressure head by the skin friction on the thin sheet of uid, while retaining during the spreading and recombining a relation of pressure P and velocity V for the fluid and thickness W for the sheet so that at all points displaced a distance S from the point of initiation of the spreadin'g the rate of pressure change as the fluid progresses along its path is substantially equal to KW-l-WL" where K is a constant dependent upon the particular fluid and its temperature.

4. A low velocity type fluid control device corn- -prising, in combination, a core presenting a smooth exterior surface which is a surface of revolution, about the longitudinal axis of the core, of an uninterrupted curve; said core presenting protrusions on its opposite ends which taper smoothly from the end of the core to outwardly projecting points located on said longitudinal axis of the core; and means for confining a stream of fluid to spread laterally outward over one of said protrusions, flow in a thin sheet over the surface of the core, and recombine in an exit stream at the point of the other protrusion: said last named means including a casing enclosing the core and in which the latter is nested, the interior surface of the casing conforming closely to the contour of the exterior of the core throughout the length of the latter and being closely spaced therefrom to form a clearance space between them for flow of the fluid, and said casing having alined inlet and outlet openings in its opposite ends coaxial with said protrusions.

5. A control device for'fiuids comprising, in combination, a casing having an inlet and an outlet, and means within said casing defining a path from said inlet to said outlet in which the fluid is spread out in a thin sheet of gradually diminishing and subsequently increasing thickness such. that the rate of change in fluid pressure as the fluid progresses along its path from inlet to outlet is substantially equal to KW-l-BVU where W is the thickness of the sheet and V is the fluid velocity at any point in question and K is a constant.

6. A low velocity type fluid control device cornprising, in combination, a cylindrical core having its ends smoothly tapered to oppositely projecting points, a cylindrical casing enclosing said core, a tubular separator shell within said casing and nested over said core, said shell being spaced from both the core and casing, the end portions :masso of both said casing and shell enclosing said pointed ends of the core and being necked in to a reduced diameter, said reduced ends of the casing terminating respectively in an inlet and an outlet.

. 7. In a device of the type set forth, the combination of a core comprising a body with two movable end walls at respective opposite ends thereof, said core being of smooth exterior contnur and its surface being a surface of revolution about its longitudinal axis, said endvwalls having alined outwardly projecting protrusions thereon, a casing enclosing said core in closely spaced relation thereto and having an inlet and an outlet alined with respective ones of said protrusions, and means controllable froxnthe exterior of said casing for selectively and determinately moving individual ones of said two core end walls relative to the core body to adjust the spacing of the surfaces of said protrusions from the innerl surface of the casing. Y f

8. The method of reducing the pressure head of a confined flowing stream of fluid, which comprises, spreading the fluid out in a thin sheet of progressively diminishing depth and at the same time subjecting the fluid to progressively greater confinement during such spreading to increase its velocity at a rate such as to increase the kinetic energy of the fluid substantially uniformly up to a point where the velocity reaches a maximum of only a few hundred feet per second, whereby the potential energy of the pressure head of the fluid is diminished by dissipation of energy in skin friction incident to flowing of the fluid in such a confined thin sheet, thereafter recombining the fluid in a solid stream while coincidentally diminishing the confinement of the fluid but at a suillciently slow rate that the corresponding diminution in velocity head never exceeds the pressure head, continuing such diminution of confinement until the velocity is restored to its vinitial value at a point coincident with the attainment of the maximum drop in fluid pressure resulting from the operations set forth, and

- throughout the operations set forth retaining the path of fluid flow sufficiently rectilinear that the centrifugal force acting on the fluid at any point due to any change in its direction of flow never exceeds the fluid pressure at such point.

9. In a device of the type set forth, the combination of a core comprising a body with two movable end walls at respective opposite ends thereof, said end walls being flexible and being spaced throughout the major portion of their areas from said body by interior chambers defined between said end walls and said body, said core being of smooth exterior contour and its surface being a surface oi' revolution about its longitudinal axis, said end walls having alined outwardly projecting protrusions thereon, a casing enclosing said core in closely spaced relation thereto and having an inlet and an outlet alined with respective ones of said protrusions, and means for supplying pressure fluid selectively to said chambers for bulging said core end walls outward relative to the core body to adjust the spacing of the surfaces of said protrusions from the inner surface of the casing.

THOMAS C. POULTER. 

